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May 30, 2014

Listeners to Galactic Suburbia will already have heard the news, however is you aren’t into podcasts you might be interested that Kirstyn McDermott’s Perfections, originally released by Xoum publishing as an ebook, has been acquired by Twelfth Planet Press for its first print run.

The new cover is by the talented Amanda Rainey.

Here is my review of the novel on first release:

If you liked Madigan Mine, you’ll still like Perfections but they don’t occupy quite the same space.

Ian Mond, Kirstyn’s co-host on the Writer and the Critic described it as more of a character piece. Kirstyn herself has tentatively called it modern urban gothic, situating it at the subtler end of the horror continuum.

And I think Perfections is a subtler piece of work than Madigan Mine. I always had suspicions with what was going on with Kirstyn’s first novel, it had a stronger affinity with well known Horror tropes.

Don’t get me wrong though, Perfections is still gut wrenchingly nasty at times, enough to really unsettle you but I was hard pressed to figure out where the horror was going to emerge - which of course kept me slightly on edge.

Now you notice here I am avoiding telling you the story. And I am not going to reveal …[read on]

If you are a fan of subtle, creeping horror I recommend picking this one up.

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Ticonderoga looks set to deliver another wonderful collection by yet another wonderful Aussie speculative fiction author. Hot on the heals of Cat Sparks’ The Bride Price and Kim Wilkins’ The Year of Ancient Ghosts.

This time they have managed to snare Janeen Webb and her Death At The Blue Elephant. I am suspecting that there might be a sneak preview launch at Continuum X in Melbourne but it will be more widely available in the second half of this year.

There’s also a gorgeous cover by Nick Stathopolous.

I have only recently come across Janeen’s short story work. I know her more for the anthologies Dreaming Down Under edited with her husband Jack Dann. But here in her first collection is great chance to read some older (and presumably dispersed or out of print works) as well as five original pieces composed for this tome.

Janeen is a recipient of the World Fantasy Award, the Peter MacNamara SF Achievement Award, the Australian Aurealis Award, and is a three-time winner of the Ditmar Award.

But don’t trust my word, let these individuals sway you:

Death at the Blue Elephant collects 18 incredible globe-spanning visions by the self-confessed 'inveterate traveller'. There’s magic here, and illusion, and strange wonders that’ll surprise and delight. — Robert Shearman

Janeen Webb’s assemblage of angels, aliens, devils and assorted revenants bring with them compassion and settings rich and exotic where even the mundanity of our everyday world is imbued with a sparkle rarely glimpsed in the hands of lesser writers. — Peter Crowther

May 26, 2014

Regular readers will be familiar with my gender audits and so this time I thought I would examine reviews by publisher to get a handle on how my reviews are weighted.

Now the following list only goes back over the last 2.5 years. It lists publishers and self publishers and should give you a broad picture of the work I have reviewed. In makes no differentiation between review copies and books that I selected/bought myself, indeed it’s missing a number of books bought from TPP and Ticonderoga that languish on my TBR pile.

Publisher

2014

2013

2012

Total

Hachette/Orbit/Etc

5

9

16

30

Wizard’s Tower

1

1

0

2

Solaris

4

1

3

8

Interactive Press

1

0

0

1

Picaro

2

1

0

3

ARF

1

0

0

1

A&U

2

3

4

9

SALT

2

0

0

2

Shambala

1

0

0

1

Peggy Bright

1

1

2

4

Shane Kozycan

1

0

0

1

UQP

1

0

0

1

FableCroft

0

2

0

2

Twelfth Planet

0

2

6

8

Ticonderoga

0

2

0

2

Satalyte

0

1

0

1

Momentum

0

2

4

6

Endeavour

0

1

0

1

Cloudburst

0

1

0

1

Flipreads

0

2

0

2

FutureFire

0

1

0

1

Harper Collins

0

3

0

3

Bloomsbury

0

2

1

3

CSFG

0

1

0

1

Emergent

0

2

0

2

Patty Jansen

0

2

0

2

XOUM

0

0

2

2

Rabia Gale

0

0

2

2

Tor Rox.

0

0

1

1

Patrick Duffy

0

0

1

1

Gilgamesh

0

0

1

1

Angry Robot

0

0

1

1

RBB

0

0

1

1

Glenda Larke

0

0

1

1

Math P.P.

0

0

1

1

CDL

0

0

1

1

Clan Destine

0

0

1

1

Comments

I can’t say there’s much that is surprising here, I thought that the reviewing would be heavily weighted toward Hachette etc. because the send me quite a lot books and aren’t shy about doing so.

I thought I had reviewed more Twelfth Planet Press but then I sometimes forget that I have purchased most of their catalogue and not necessarily read it all. I note too that the Twelfth Planet Press and to a lesser extent Ticonderoga’s reviews are influenced by the fact that I have been participating in the Australian Women Writers project for some time and those two presses are focussed supporters of Australian women writers. Twelfth Planet Press’ Twelve Planets Collection is a nice way to make your challenge target.

The Solaris figures are a little surprising but then I'’m a huge Rowena Cory Daniells fan and they have recently picked up Jonathan Strahan as well so maybe I shouldn’t be.

Top 5 reviewed publishers over the last 2.5 years

Hachette etc 30

Allen & Unwin 9

Solaris/TPP 8

Momentum 6

Peggy Bright 4

If I break the table into Traditional/Medium and Small Presses(incl Self pubbed)

Large

45

Medium

17

Small

49

Note I have ranked Solaris and Momentum as medium presses.

I think there’s an even spread between small and large presses and to be honest Hachette gives me access to a number of subsidiary publishers so I am not concerned about the weight they seem to have here. Indeed they also publish a few Aussie authors in our scene.

Likewise I am not too concerned with the weighting among some of the more prolific small presses. I have a Peggy Bright title in my reading queue at the moment and I have only one more Twelfth Planet book I am reading. But I will use this as an excuse to read Angela Slatter’s and Lisa L Hannett’s collections from Ticonderoga.

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I don’t really like serialised fiction. I want all the story at my own reading pace. Which perhaps makes me a less than ideal person for reviewing Tansy Rayner Roberts’ new Patreon backed Musketeer Space.

But a) I have been a fan of Tansy’s writing since Siren Beat, b) I love the Three Musketeers and c )I love it when people adapt or rework classic stories.

So I had mixed feelings going into reading chapter one Musketeer Space Part I: Reasons To Hate Moths. I can’t stand reading longer stories on the laptop so I used the dotEpub extension to render Tansy’s post into a form I could take to my reader.

So what to review. You can of course read it yourself, it’s free and you don’t need to be a backer/patron. Not much point in outlining the plot so I will tell you what I like so far. This chapter covers the story up to the meeting with Rochefort or as is the case here Ro.

I like the gender swap which is going to be a major feature of the work. Dana D'Artagnan is our protagonist and she flies a Dart, a small one person spacecraft. Musketeers fly the Musket class ships if my memory serves me. Tansy does great fan service with hat tips to the original work like the references to Meung Station and the yellow paintwork of D'Artagnan’s Dart being referred to as Buttercup in colour.

I think Tansy has managed to capture the essence of a good Musketeer reworking - the carefree and gutsy attitude of the young D'Artagnan and the humour in the situations that D'Artagnan’s attitude gets her into. It’s a well known story in pop culture and half the fun is seeing/trying to guess how Tansy is going to handle certain scenes and characters. By the end of the 13 pages I was hooked, I can’t wait till the next one :). Ro is dastardly and D'Artagnan has the exuberance of youth with all the danger that entails. I picture Ro being played by Geena Davis for some reason and D'Artagnan, perhaps a crew cut Natalie Portman.

It’s getting closer and I am trying out this year, the novel idea of contracting an illness before I get to the Convention as opposed to contracting con lurgy.

I will be appearing at a couple of places and on a couple of panels so friends and readers who are going to the convention feel free to come and say hi. Otherwise I will be floating around trying to interview folks for Galactic Chat.

May 25, 2014

There are some writers that can guarantee you a pleasant read and I find Canavan to be one of those. When you read constantly as a reviewer, torn between short fiction collections and mind-bending science fiction concepts, a pleasant comforting read can recharge your reading batteries. Which is not to say Thief’s Magic is all sunshine and lolly-pops, it’s not.

But reading it was delicious.

Canavan has an accessible style that enables you to get into the story straight away, and from my interview with her and past reading experience this is a deliberate act. Stylistically she doesn’t want you marvelling at the words but immersed in the story and that approach works a treat in Thief’s Magic.

The story is split between two narratives that I assume will wind their way towards each other over the course of the series. We have Tyen, a young magician in training at the Academy, who lives in an imperialistic industrial culture powered by magic. This narrative has a Steampunk vibe going for it but it’s a light garnishing.

The second narrative features Rielle, a young woman living in a male dominated desert culture whose magic is structured around the worship of angelic creatures. It’s a culture and landscape that has been depleted of magic and restricts its use of magic to a patriarchal priesthood.

Tyen’s story begins when he discovers a magic artefact while on a grave robbing archaeological dig with his professor. The dusty old tome turns out to be a rather gruesome and powerful artefact whose discovery and subsequent use, turns his world upon its head – or perhaps it just enables Tyen to see the reality of his immediate world for the first time.

Rielle, has been able to sense magic from a young age in a society the represses magical use and especially magical use by women. Her untrained talent must remain a secret if she is to fulfil her families plans of an advantageous marriage. She must avoid notice by the priesthood or risk being removed to a secluded monastery. Her story really begins with her falling for a painter who is famous but not an advantageous match.

The dual narratives play off each other well. With Tyen’s story there is the constant threat of capture and with Rielle the reader is in constant fear of her talent being discovered. Throw in friends and enemies, neither of who you can trust and this story hums along quite nicely.

Another feature of Canavan’s work is her inclusion of crunchy topics and a variety of characters and cultures. I mentioned before that Tyen’s narrative is one set in an Industrial culture; it has magic driven printing presses and trains that use magic to heat water to generate steam. But there’s both direct and indirect criticism of the Empire’s colonial actions and the growing problem of resource depletion i.e. the magic appears to be running out.

The two cultures presented also provide an interesting approach to how the same resource (magic) can be perceived and integrated into world views that are at odds with one another. Canavan continues to provide a host of secondary characters that display variety, gay couples, artistic communities, women from matriarchal cultures in conflict with the apparently advanced mores of the empire. She has done this before and I like the way these characters help to round out the reality of the world.

Thief’s Magic is one of those books that you can enjoy over a weekend, ensconced in your doona, a read that is relaxing and enjoyable but that can still leave you with some crunchy thoughts. So although I hate to hurry-up an author who spends months or years writing a book to have it devoured in two days by readers – bring on book two.

May 21, 2014

Launching tomorrow will be a new web serial from Tansy Rayner Roberts. It will feature gender-swapped Musketeers in space so hold on to your Cavalier hats as we witness acts of derring-do in space.

Because its a web serial there is a chance to participate see Tansy’s page for details:

Musketeer Space is a story that has been rolling around in my brain for some time now, and I’ve come to the conclusion that there are some novels I’m just not going to write without deadlines. Enter: the self-imposed deadline.

So, for the next year and a half or so, I’ll be posting weekly chapters of a space opera retelling of The Three Musketeers, one of my favourite stories of all time. Writing without a net!

The story will be free to read, though if you want to make a financial contribution towards the ongoing care and nurturing of the space Musketeers and their author, I have set up a Patreon page to collect small monthly donations. Anyone who donates during the web serial process will receive an e-book of the complete story when it’s done. So if you hate waiting for a story to be updated chapter by chapter, you can donate now and not read it for another year and a half. Procrastination for the win! READ ON

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May 20, 2014

Just chucking this up here for Australian Horror/King Fans. Booktopia have a draw running so that if you pre-order a copy of King’s new book Mr. Mercedesbefore June 3rd you go in a draw to win 1 of 5 packs including the following:

Please find below the cover of the forthcoming Steampunk romance anthology from Ticonderoga, Kisses by Clockwork, edited by Liz Grzyb. It will feature 16 stories of Steampunk romance. pre-orders can be made through Indiebooksonline.com

May 18, 2014

Apparently it’s a physical thing, this anthology I’m in. One of our intrepid editors, Penelope Cottier, has a photos of it in the wild here. But it’s not quite a thing that you can own yet. You can order it in physical or digital form from the IP website here. It’s official release date is in June

May 17, 2014

I borrowed this book after hearing Ken MacLeod speak on Galactic Chat. I think in general terms we share some political and social views so I was interested to see if this played out in his work. I have also been impressed with most of the Scottish writers I have read, regardless of genre.

So, for a man who is known for writing sci-fi ( a contemporary and friend of Iain Banks) he writes a damn fine techno-thriller.

It's after 9/11. After the bombing. After the Iraq war. After 7/7. After the Iran war. After the nukes. After the flu. After the Straits. After Rosyth. In a world just down the road from our own, on-line bloggers vie with old-line political operatives and new-style police to determine just where reality lies.

It’s always difficult to write a techno-thriller, they have a limited life span because technology and politics can change reasonably quickly – just cast your eye of Tom Clancy’s works, or the movies made from them. So what MacLeod has done is chosen a node in time and diverged from our history and presented us with a world that doesn’t look much different but that which, I think, gives the reader all the good stuff i.e. the action, the double dealing, the high stakes, without us feeling like we have read a book past its time. It’s got the sense of our time, of the now.

The Execution Channel came out in 2007 and pretty much holds up under the passage of another 7 years. In a tech and information heavy story, Twitter’s absence was noticeable but then Twitter had only just been founded around the time the novel was being written. In terms of online exchanges and information culture and general world political culture though, he got it spot on.

In an England he no longer feels is England, the protagonist James Travis is spying for the French. Travis hates Americans and feels the England of his childhood is gone, not the result of endless waves of immigration, but I think more from the cultural and political changes wrought to it’s institutions.

The detonation of a suspected nuclear device at a Scottish based American Air Force base acts as a catalyst for Travis to go on the run when his activities for the French are caught up in the net that widens to pin down the culprit of the attack. So we have your standard tale of trying to catch the enemy agent, overlaid the question of which, if any, of the co-operating agencies who are tracking him are wholly good, overlaid with the murky and confusing world of strategic disinformation warfare. Sprinkle this with advanced algorithms and networks based on the neural pathways of animals and we begin to question who the bad guys are, and if they are perhaps human.

It’s exceedingly well placed and it keeps you thinking and guessing right until the end. It’s one of the better techno-thrillers I have read in a long time and that is perhaps what might leave you feeling unsatisfied at the end. It is too convincing as one genre, when in reality its ending is pure sci-fi. Other reviewers have felt this breaks a contract with the reader and I can see where they are coming from, it’s like watching From Dusk till Dawn thinking it’s a crime movie.

I enjoyed it for the ride alone, and being a sci-fi fan was able to stretch my suspension of disbelief to incorporate the ending. So a brilliant espionage, techno-thriller with a sci-fi sting at the end.

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May 14, 2014

I have only recently come to appreciate the importance of a good translation. Only recently come to realise, indeed how much can change when a work undergoes translation, how much is lost or altered and perhaps why translation is so expensive i.e. you are not just paying someone to convert words, but to somehow embody the original meaning, intent, tone of the author in the new work. I would expect that to some considerable degree translation is almost as much of an act of creation as writing the original work.

Which is why it is a pleasure to read Kontakt where the majority of the works were translated by the authors themselves with some additional editing by Tatjana Jambrišak,Goran Konvični, and Darko Macan.

As Cheryl Morgan outlines in her preface Kontakt was initially put together as part of a showcase of Croatian science fiction and made available in a short print run for members of the 2012 Eurocon held in Zagreb. This ebook edition has been rendered so that what was originally only available to a few, can now reach a wider audience.

Darko Macan, author and co-editor is upfront in his introduction, he and his co-editor have put forward a particular viewpoint. Croatian Science Fiction is dark, its history is long and the years from which these stories spring begin around the time a war for independence was fought.

It is the Croatian science fiction of the nineties and the naughts that we present to you in this book. The twelve included writers showcase, I believe, a good cross-section of voices and interests in the contemporary Croatian SF. I favoured, in choosing, the writers of continuous presence and a larger output. I erred, slightly, in favour of the upbeat notes (one or two characters were even spotted having fun) but I mercilessly stomped fantasy wherever I had the option to include science fiction instead – there is too much past in the Balkans already, so it is my firm belief we need not add any more.

But fear not, lovers of dark fantasy fiction, for Darko let a few fantastical stories through.

The collection kicks off with Bloodhound, by Milena Benini, a cyberpunk-ish tale with some of that darkness that Darko was alluding to. Johnny Gobac a.k.a. Bloodhound, a hard-boiled half-dog ( I had an image of RIFTS Dogboys) on the search for a girl kidnapped by criminals producing certain unsavoury films. It evokes a tone and a style that has links to the larger Cyberpunk movement but there’s a definite grittiness, a “what happens away from the chrome and neon” that we might not be used to from the American stream.

Dalibor Perković’s Hi-Tech Sex Lib, is proof that Croatian SF is not all doom and gloom. A humorous story about consumer time travel that focuses not on saving the world but on that most human of compulsions - sex and experimentation. It asks the question, what would a couple do if they could meet their past or future selves. Yes that question. The ending is interesting and I can’t help thinking, that the saying “that to truly love someone you must learn to love yourself” is apt here.

The Corridor by Darko Macan, apparently won international literary acclaim and I can see why. It’s not a standard genre story, from the beginning the reader senses that it is more metaphorical, more surreal. I felt as if the author was making comment on the absurdity of conflict of fighting against those who are just like us, those that share our humanity and the ridiculous and unquestioning nature of military life. It’s worth a couple of reads and is one of the stories that made the most impact on me.

The Dead by Aleksandar Žiljak somehow successfully merges a zombie tale with socialist sympathy. Where you might say that US/UK zombie stories might be a comment on rampant consumerism, Žiljak shows that the shambling hordes can also be used as a criticism of capitalism. Dead workers of the world unite! A worthy story if you are tired of the run-o-the-mill Zombie tales.

I felt a bit detached from River Fairy by Ivana Delač, I think because the beginning felt a bit twee, but this may have been because I had just emerged from Žiljak’s story. It is worth persevering though because it develops a nice fairytale quality i.e. dark and gruesome.

With De Cadenza we are treated to a bunch of sexual reprobates in space, it’s erotically humorous and baroque and a bit tongue in cheek. Despite its ornate and sumptuous delivery, I feel Danijel Bogdanović’s piece offers a refreshing palate cleanser.

And as soon as that palate is cleansed we are given Zoran Vlahović’s Every Time We Say Goodbye, a story more characteristically hard science fiction than perhaps the others and a war seen from the point of view of the wives of its warriors. An interesting comment on the cost of war and on the reality of violence.

And war is a strong theme, as well as religion. In Time Enough and Space we find ourselves in a Croatia that is receiving refugees from America, China and Russia after a limited nuclear war, families are forced to occupy rooms in houses, space and privacy are at a premium, until the protagonist finds a man selling space into another dimension. Goran Konvični tips his hat towards Heinlein's Crooked House with this almost philosophical piece.

Katarina Brbora’s Avaleon and the Black Feather, features travelling to another dimension where God, Jesus and the Holy Mother are fighting against Satan in a Croatia on the black Sea ( migrations that occurred in our history never occurred in this alternative dimension), it’s less philosophical and more action orientated.

The Executor, features an inquisitor of sorts, sent to rid an isolated village of a disturbance. Zoran Krušvar’s gives us an Executor, that is pompous, impatient and at heart a coward. I had a sense of where the story was going due to the set up but Krušvar amped up the darkness and well, it was a very interesting and slightly gory finish.

Despite Kontakt being a collection, a cross section of the Croatian science fiction community it does seem to sit very well together. A lot of the stories have dark elements, even those that end well, perhaps this is what makes all of the stories seem to fit reasonably well together? It’s not a darkness that seems oppressive though, maybe a little more honest, a little more realistic and world weary, carrying the weight of history and recent experience.

I come away with a definite sense of the tone of Croatian SF, one that I think many Australian speculative fiction writers might enjoy, considering our penchant for the dark and weird.

This collection was provided by Wizard’s Tower Press.

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May 11, 2014

I finished The Raven’s Banquet Friday morning and because Beal had left me hanging off a cliff I dove straight into Gideon’s Angel and managed to finish it just as quickly. They are both reasonably short novels by fantasy standards ie around the 250 page mark, but Beal has done a great job of filling them out, of making the most of the space. I found Gideon’s Angel in particular well paced and like its prequel, compelling.

In fact I think I enjoyed it more.

The supernatural element definitely comes to the forefront in Gideon’s Angel, it’s much harder to explain happenings away as the result of a drug induced vision or the effects of epilepsy. It’s hard to deny the reality of a hound of hell making mince meat of your leg.

Beal has been rather clever though in the way the story unfolds, much like an episode of Doctor Who deals with the Doctor’s appearance in historical England, the vast majority of people in the world of Gideon’s Angel are oblivious to the dark happenings.

And like a good Doctor Who episode Beal has given us some fan service, with everyone’s favourite Musketeer D'Artagnan making a lengthy appearance and for the poets amongst us, a certain Mr Milton is privy to the dark happenings, inspiring him no doubt to write a certain epic poem.

Now Beal is a trained swordsman and he has managed to let this training influence his fight scenes rather than overwhelm them. I have read other works where the author’s expertise and display of such can throw you out of the text but Beal gives us the flavour without bogging down in description. If you’re reading a work featuring swordplay who want it to feel like sword play is happening and not like you are reading a technical manual by one of the European masters.

So, excellent footwork Mr Beal.

So too on the gender front. We have two female characters in Gideon’s Angel who get a reasonable amount of page time and who do have quite a bit of agency, Isabel the daughter of a Rabbi in hiding (whose knowledge of the Talmud comes in handy) and Treadwell’s mistress Marguerite. We meet also with Anya the Gypsy fortune teller but all in all, I felt like their was more gender diverse participation in the story. It must also be stressed that for Cromwellian England the central cast of heroes was also ethnically and religiously diverse.

If I were to be picky, I have a small issue with the ending, which I won’t reveal but I will say it should have been problematic from the standpoint of resolution but for some reason it wasn’t. I guess I felt I’d had my fill of action.

In any case I hope Solaris have signed Beal up for another book after these two, I’d really like to read the further adventures of Sir Richard Treadwell.

This book was provided by Solaris publishing.

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In a short addendum to yesterdays review, I do recall having watched a reasonably recent miniseries (around 2010) set in Cromwellian England, called The Devils Whore. From memory it also included some supernatural/religious horror elements. Upon checking if its still available I was pleasantly surprised to recognise some great English actors ie Michael Fassbender, John Simm, Peter Capaldi, Dominic West.

Set against the backdrop of the English Civil War, the manipulative Angelica exploits a country in crisis in a bid to better her own position. She abandons her loyalties to the Royal Family following the execution of her childhood sweetheart and first husband. Destitute, Angelica finds herself suddenly embroiled in murder and misadventure in a bitter struggle for survival.Fortune smiles on her once again in her alliance with Oliver Cromwell and her subsequent marriage to his trusted friend, the heroic revolutionary Rainsborough.

Angelica becomes Cromwell's confidante as he begins his reign over England. However, when her husband, protector and the father of her unborn child is murdered by Cromwell she is forced to face her demons.

Now the synopsis above doesn’t mention any supernatural elements so perhaps I am misremembering, but further digging reveals that this miniseries is set to receive a follow-up production called The Devil's Whore; New Worlds. So much for me saying that this era of history is under utilised.

I do note that its available from Booktopia, so while I am bitten by the bug I might have to run off and buy it.

Note: Booktopia are having a free shipping promotion until midnight tonight for all those who forgot mothers day or are cheap bastards like me. The secret code is SNUG.

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May 9, 2014

It struck me as I was reading The Raven’s Banquet that aside from repeated rehashing of Dumas’ Three Musketters in film form, the 17th Century is a bit under utilised by the entertainment community at large, or perhaps this is one of those circular things that falls in and out of favour with the reading/viewing public or perhaps its just me and my reading choices.

The Raven’s Banquet is largely historical fiction, a prelude or prequel to Beal’s first book, Gideon’s Angel set in mid-17th century England and Europe, around the time of the English Civil War and other European conflicts. So Cavaliers, Harquebusiers, black powder and swordplay.

I think the period on its own leaves plenty of room for entertaining tales of adventure, but Beal has managed to splice in some supernatural elements that give it a certain fantasy flavouring.

Now mid 17th century England and Europe for that matter, is still a time where superstition and witchcraft are believed to be a perfectly reasonable way of explaining events. Beal presents the supernatural in such a way as the modern reader can either choose to view the magic or sorcery as real or accept that its plausible for the character to believe it is so. In other words there’s no fireballs and levitation spells.

We are treated to a double narrative or perhaps a single narrative but split chronologically. First we have our protagonist Richard Treadwell writing letters in the Tower of London where he awaits trial as a traitor against an England ruled by Parliament . Second we have Treadwell recounting the tale of his youth and how he came to be the soldier his is. The novel ends on a cliff-hanger, which if you are anything like me will result in you getting into the next book as soon as possible.

While not a breakneck thriller by any means The Raven’s Banquet certainly captured and held my attention. There’s a bit of a leisurely set up, and Beal paints a convincing enough picture of time and place without going overboard. The two things that really pulled me through the book and maintained my attention were the mysteries at the heart of the two tales.

I am not a student of English History, which has two benefits: I am unlikely to be thrown out of the text by obvious anachronisms and the history itself is something new and interesting. Does it past the Bechdel test? No but that might also be a function of the mode in which the narrative is told i.e. it’s Treadwell telling his story from his perspective. It’s pretty much a boys own adventure, the women and other secondary characters are really defined by how they help or hinder Treadwell. That being said you do have some interesting roles being played by the various women that do appear.

So overall an engaging work, featuring what feels like a solid bit of world building or realisation, with some evenly paced action and mystery garnished with subtle supernatural horror.

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It didn’t seem that long ago that I helped fund this project but its edging closer and TOR reveals that it should be coming out some time in August. We have a stunning and entirely appropriate cover fro the talented Amanda Rainey and thanks to the editors the TOC has been released.

I am very happy to see some familiar names but equally happy to read names I have never heard of before.

Kaleidoscope’s Table of Contents:

“Welcome”—Will Alexander

“Double Time”—John Chu

“Celebration”—Sean Eads

“The Truth about Owls”—Amal El Mohtar

“Careful Magic”—Karen Healey

“Chupacabra’s Song”—Jim Hines

“Ordinary Things”—Vylar Kaftan

“Every Little Thing”—Holly Kench

“End of Service”—Gabriela Lee

“Seventh Day of the Seventh Moon”—Ken Liu

“The Day the God Died”—Alena McNamara

“Signature”—Faith Mudge

“Kiss and Kiss and Kiss and Tell”—E. C. Myers

“Happy Go Lucky”—Garth Nix

“Cookie Cutter Superhero”—Tansy Rayner Roberts

“Walkdog”—Sofia Samatar

“The Lovely Duckling”—Tim Susman

“Krishna Blue”—Shveta Thakrar

“The Legend Trap”—Sean Williams

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Marianne de Pierres’ Peacemaker, published by Angry Robot is getting an interactive game adaptation from award winning Western Australian games company Stirfire Studios. Just like it happens films the deal is only at the optioning stage, but considering the team involved there’s room for optimism.

de Pierres has long standing in the Australian Speculative fiction scene as author of The Parrish Plessis Series and The Sentients of Orion and recently she’s been successful with a foray into young adult category with The Night Creatures trilogy.

Stirfire Studios well known for their successful scrolling Freedom Fall game look to be trying something different this time with a move into interactive storytelling.

So I’m intrigued, scrolling games aren’t my thing but if Stirfire is going along more of a FPS or even something like Final Fantasy, I’d be interested.

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May 8, 2014

Forty odd dedicated souls stood in the freezing temperatures of a Clare valley winter evening to hear international bestselling author Fiona McIntosh launch her latest novel, Tapestry and to kick off fundraising for the Clare Writers festival of which she is patron.

McIntosh regaled the audience with stories of the research trips required to write Tapestry, including a behind the scenes look at the Tower of London. The crowd were treated to tales of Hitler’s toilet (the one the Brits hand installed in the Tower) and how Fiona almost caused a break in 700 years of tradition. If you’ve not had the chance to listen to McIntosh talk I’d advise getting along to a launch - if she hadn’t become a best selling novelist she might have had a career in stand-up.

Tickets for the launch were twelve dollars with funds going toward the festival, but I think I would not be alone in saying that we got a bargain, being entertained by such a wonderful storyteller.

And being such a wonderful storyteller she sold me the book.

If you are a fan of reading about women who have been forgotten by history, then I think you’ll enjoy this book. The novel grew out of the story of the Earl of Nithsdale’s audacious escape from the Tower of London, orchestrated by his wife. A tale that would seem too ridiculous if not for the fact it actually happened.

Rather than a straight historical narrative McIntosh, like Audrey Niffenegger, has employed a time travel trope, in a story that will bring her two major audiences together.

The key to her future is trapped in the past.

In 1978, Jane Maxwell is celebrating her engagement to Will, a handsome American geophysicist, but though she should be deliriously happy, she is plagued by doubts. When tragedy leaves Will hanging between life and death, Jane's guilt makes her determined to save him ... somehow.

In 1715, the Earl of Nithsdale joins the doomed Jacobite rebellion for Scottish independence. But the cause is lost and the Earl is sentenced to be beheaded. On a desperate and dangerous quest to find some answers, Jane finds herself swept away and trapped in the past. Convinced that saving Nithsdale will also save Will, Jane embarks on a daring and audacious plot to rescue the Earl from the Tower of London. Past and present become entwined in a gripping race against time -- and both will be changed by one woman's determination...

Tapestry is available from Booktopia in both Paperback and eBook form.

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May 7, 2014

Yet another Australian author featuring in the news. TOR are running a book sweeptakes on their website while announcing the US and UK covers for Ben Peek’s new fantasy epic. The US cover is to the left.

Ben is so known in the Australian Science Fiction Community here’s hoping this series of books propels him on the world stage.

Now this sweepstakes is only open to UK and US residents, but check out the article anyway folks.

Very good to see a mix of publishers and publishers or different sizes.

Rupetta has already garnered a Tiptree and Fairytales for Wilde Girls an Aurealis. Caution: Contains Small Parts has been well received but seems to be a bit of a bridesmaid in awards this year, always featuring but just missing out.

In the end though its good to see an increase in the number of books being recognised for dealing with these themes.

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Arriving a little later than we anticipated (Galactic Chat likes to try and keep to a fortnightly turnaround) is Helen Stubbs interview with Scottish science fiction author Ken MacLeod.

In today's chat Helen Stubbs interviews multi-award winning Science Fiction author Ken MacLeod. They talk about his novel Intrusion, and his most recent publication, Descent. Ken grew up with Iain Banks and relates some heart warming anecdotes about their friendship. They also cover Ken's current work plans and his writing process. You can download from this link.

In what I imagine is a pretty cool thing to happen to a small press ie that your print stocks sell out, Twelfth Planet Press have announced that they will be doing a small run to take with them to Worldcon.

So if you ever wanted to grab a hard copy (the eBook is still available) then mosey on over to the Twelfth Planet Press site to pre order a copy here.

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